Prime numbers

Prime numbers are natural numbers greater than one that are not products of two or more smaller numbers.

A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that cannot be formed by multiplying two or more smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number.[1]

To test for whether a number n is prime, test whether the number is divisible by all integers from 2 to the square root of n.

This method trial division is very slow and can improved by other methods such as the AKS primality test.

## Readings

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1. Wikipedia: Prime number
2. Wikipedia: Generating primes

## Multimedia

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1. YouTube: Prime Numbers and Composite Numbers
2. YouTube: Prime Numbers - Sieve of Eratosthenes

## Activities

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1. Review MathsIsFun: Prime and Composite Numbers. Create a list of prime numbers less than 100.
2. Review MathsIsFun: Prime Numbers Chart and Calculator. Compare your list of prime numbers less than 100 for accuracy. Use the prime number calculator to find a prime number greater than 1000.
3. Review Wikipedia: Generating primes and ExtendOffice: How to Generate Prime Numbers in Excel. Use Excel to create your own prime number generator.
4. Review Wikipedia: Generating primes and Prime number generators. Write your own program to generate prime numbers.

## Resources

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* Prime number generators

## See Also

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* Wikipedia: Prime number
* Wikipedia: List of prime numbers
* MathsIsFun: Prime Numbers Lists

## References

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1. ↑ Wikipedia: Prime number